


Episode Twenty-Five:  By the Light of All Our Sparks.........

by keirajo



Series: Transformers: Star Voyager [26]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Danger, Fighting, Multi, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-13 06:10:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18935026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keirajo/pseuds/keirajo
Summary: Unicron's forces attack Cybertron, while Rodimus Prime faces the God of Chaos straight on.





	Episode Twenty-Five:  By the Light of All Our Sparks.........

Episode Twenty-Five:   By the Light of All Our Sparks………

 

 

            **_Cybertron was in complete and utter chaos!_**

            Even though Rodimus Prime had managed to pull away the two main Decepticons with the highest danger levels from the combat—there was still the sheer amount of numbers.   While there were _some_ living Decepticons amongst the combatants, a vast number of them were reanimated dead mechs and femmes—filled with Unicron’s dark energy.   Prowl kept running odds and statistics, feeding his observations through comm-link and HUD displays to those in combat leadership positions.

            _::Star Saber!::_    Prowl’s comm-link voice echoed in the old Voyager Class soldier’s audial.   _::Are you noticing what I’m noticing—is Unicron warping the numbers when they get damaged?::_

            _::Yes,::_ the warrior noted, grimly.   _::Everytime I blast any of these zombie-soldiers, I can see the dark energy warping them and multiplying them.   If this keeps happening, we’ll be overwhelmed by numbers and not power of any sort!::_   Star Saber snapped.   _::Though, every so often, when I cleave one with my greatsword instead, the pieces disintegrate…………::_

            _::Why just your sword?::_   Prowl’s voice asked.

            _::A moment,::_ Star Saber responded, changing PCC frequencies to comm-link Drift.   _::Tell me the difference when you shoot one of these zombies and when you cleave one!::_   He ordered of the former Decepticon warrior.

            _::Normal weapon attacks just make them multiply—cleaving them seems to destroy them!::_    Drift reported, quickly.

            Star Saber conveyed that to Prowl.   Then came to a realization—it may have been the methods by which the greatswords he and Drift now had were forged.   There may have been a special method to their forgery………..something that could counteract the God of Chaos’ dark energy………….?   Then his optics were drawn to an area a few miles away where he heard a rumbling thud hit the surface of Cybertron and saw Ultra Magnus driving into the hordes with that massive sledgehammer Rodimus Prime had given him.

            _::Prowl!   It’s the energy in the laser weapons and technology—these zombies are absorbing the energy and using it to regenerate and divide!   Blunt or edged instruments that have no energy-sourcing at all will make sure they can’t regenerate and multiply!::_   Star Saber snapped as he finally realized what the difference was.   _::But it’s not all the Decepticons—look at those aerial combat units and a couple of the ground ones—the ones with lifeglow in their optics!!!   They’re alive and they can take damage from energy weapons!::_

            _::I’m not certain we can win this with just fists and swords……….::_ Prowl’s voice echoed tiredly in Star Saber’s audial.

            _::Rodimus believes we can.   I don’t know that I understand all of the mysticism he’s suddenly gained, but I want to believe he knows what he’s doing—if only because he’d do anything to protect Magnus and Drift,::_ the old Voyager Class warrior responded, softly.   _::I’m going to take to the air and try and get to the aerial units and get them out of commission.   Comm-link Drift and Magnus to let them know the weapon and attack situation!::_

            Star Saber transformed into his powerful super-jet mode and sped out into the upper atmosphere where he found a group of Unicron’s Decepticons flying about, raining blasts down upon Iacon.   A pack of them in their strange, rounded ship modes were all shades of blue, while one lone warrior was in his primary form—his colors were grey-and-purple.   He looked to be the one directing things in the absence of Galvatron.   Therefore, Star Saber thought if he could take this guy out, it would make things easier for those on the surface.   The old Voyager Class soldier transformed back into his primary mode and launched at the mech with his sword ready to cleave.

            “It would have been far better if you were not so obnoxiously noisy upon your arrival, oldmech,” the purple-and-grey warrior said in a cool and calm voice.   He used his boot thrusters to propel back out of the way swiftly and aimed a piercer rifle at Star Saber.

            “I prefer _honorable_ combat, therefore I let you know I was coming!”   Star Saber laughed.   “My name’s Star Saber—and since you can talk, _unlike the troops_ , I’d guess you had a name as well!”

            “ _Tch_.   Cyclonus,” he introduced with a wary optic kept on the old Voyager Class soldier.   “You are in my way.  I am directing combat right now.  _Please leave_ ,” the purple-and-grey mech snapped, trying to keep his voice as even-toned as possible.

            “Not a chance, Decepticon!”   Star saber chuckled, rushing in.

            On the ground, the fighting was still fierce as Prowl gave the order to use blunt or edged weapons against the zombie-like mechs and femmes in the hordes.   Ultra Magnus fought his way to Prowl’s bunker and asked for a status update—and where Rodimus was.

            “He’s taken the fight to Unicron.   Primus can’t transform and it looks as if the God of Chaos can’t either, so he’s going to use the Matrix to _disperse_ Unicron,” Prowl grunted, looking around for any and all scrap to throw at the enemy via quickly-put-together catapults.

            “Who did he take with him?”  The old soldier asked, his voice had a tone of worry in it.

            “He refused and said he’d have a better chance alone, plus the power of the Matrix might burn any of us normal mechs and femmes,” the former police officer noted.   “From what Drift had said happened on Bolohex—no one could get near the Matrix except for Hot Rod.   You’re going to have to trust in him, Ultra Magnus………. _he’s all we’ve got left_.”

            Magnus incycled a deep breath.   Well, Rodimus had _promised_ he would live through this, but it was very intense and combat could truly go in anyone’s favor.   All it took was a slight mistake, an error in calculating, and you could be dead!   He hoped his young ward and lover would be all right and make it through things okay.

            “ _Very well_.   I see that only physical combat is doing them damage,” the old soldier responded, glancing back out into the combat zones.

            “Something about the energy of our weapons being absorbed by Unicron’s dark energy—it was literally _making them multiply_ when we shot them up,” Prowl groaned.

            “Then allow me to go and try and even the numbers,” Ultra Magnus said.   He transformed into his vehicle mode—a vehicular carrier transport—and sped back out into battle.

            When he was back amongst the hordes of zombie-bots, he transformed back into his primary form and began swinging his sledgehammer again.   As the unliving mechs and femmes fell, they disintegrated.   Ultra Magnus focused all of his attention on the battle—there were lives to be saved here and _that’s_ what Sentinel Prime’s elite unit was for!

            The bulky Voyager Class soldier swiveled and spun, whipping the sledgehammer around him in a single servo, though every so often he’d use a two-handed grip and slam the heavy weapon on the ground to send a shockwave through the ground around them all and knock the combatants off-balance.   But there were far more than even _he_ could feasibly fight all by himself.   Magnus hated to admit it, but even he was beginning to feel a bit worn down…….

            “ _Hang in there, kid!_ ”  A familiar old voice called, as a large frame dropped down and all of the sudden there was a presence at his back.

            Ultra Magnus leaned against the tall, bulky mech thankfully, their backs supporting one another as they took in the numbers of the enemy together.

            “I am _very glad_ you could come, Sky Shadow!”   The red-white-blue mech responded, the tone in his voice thankful, even as his field rippled with gratitude.

            “I’m still at a loss to find Overlord, yet, so I thought I’d come help you out on Cybertron,” the former Voyager Class soldier responded, warmth in his voice.   He held his spear and shield ready for combat.   “I see Saber is working on tearing into the aerial units and your ship is keeping them off-balance up there.   Where’s your new flame colored mech?”   He asked, curiously.

            “He has taken the fight to Unicron itself,” Magnus responded, worry toning his voice and echoing in his field.

            “ _Hmmm_.   So reminiscent of Sentinel,” Sky Shadow responded.   “I’m pleased to see you using your field like a _normal_ Cybertronian—but we’re in combat now, so can you bring it in while we fight?”   He chuckled, giving a short little push of amusement in his own field, before locking it down firmly.

            Ultra Magnus laughed softly.   He’d had his field open for so long now, he’d only locked it down a few times since opening up to his little star………….but Sky Shadow was right.   **_This was combat and they were soldiers._**    _This_ is what Sentinel Prime had trained them all to do and fields could only lead to misinterpretations and lapses in judgement during combat.    It was best to keep the field locked down while fighting Unicron’s forces right now.

            What was left of his _old family_ had come to help him fight alongside his _new family_ , it really left a warmth deep in Magnus’ Spark!

            Up in the skies, Star Saber was jetting about, trying to get close to Cyclonus, but the purple-and-grey mech just kept dodging him and firing occasional shots from his piercer rifle—even as he kept issuing orders to the aerial fleet.

            “You really should fight me _fairly_ , mech-to-mech,” the swordsmech taunted, grinning beneath his facial shield.

            “Gun against sword is never fair,” Cyclonus responded, using his boot thrusters to get out of Star Saber’s sword-thrust path.

            “There’s always hand-to-hand,” Star Saber chuckled, placing his sword back into his sheath on his back.   Then he rushed forwards, ready to fight—as well as to dodge, because clearly Cyclonus was not going to give up shooting at him.   “Come now—let’s fight fairly!”  The old swordsmech chortled.

            Cyclonus grunted and made a scoffing sound in his vocalizer, continuing to dodge the straight-on attacks and snipe shots that the Voyager Class soldier.   It was clear that Star Saber was skilled at any kind of combat—not just skills with a blade.   Even engaging various combat styles while flying in the skies, as well……it said a lot about the old swordsmech’s abilities.

            “How is _this_ fair when you are twice my size?”  Cyclonus finally responded with words, an irritated tone in his voice.

            “Oh, is _that_ your problem?”   Star Saber laughed.   Well, out of any of the Voyager Class soldiers—he was able to discard his expansion armour at any time, since his true small stature frame was inside of this normal-sized controller frame.   He exited his Voyager Class armour and it transformed into a sky-skimmer.   The average-sized mech stood atop the sky-skimmer and folded his arms across his chest.   “ _There._    Does this suit your sense of fair play a little bit better then?”   The old swordsmech chuckled, grinning at the grey-and-purple Decepticon.

            “Now I believe **_I_** might have an unfair advantage—you cannot fly in this form, can you?”   Cyclonus said, looking carefully at how Star Saber was balanced on the sky-skimmer.

            “You asked for fairness.   This is the best I can give you, but if you feel like it—there is a perfectly good surface down below to fight on!”   Star Saber challenged, still grinning like a daredevil and nodded down at the surface of Cybertron.

            Meanwhile, on board the _Star Voyager_ ………………..

            “While this is fun, I wonder if we might be of more use on the ground itself?”  Blurr murmured.

            “I think my sword would be more welcome down there—given the message from the Autobots’ administrative officer,” Roadfire said with a deep sigh.

            Override walked over and slapped the both of them on the backs of their necks.   “ _We are doing perfectly good service up here, you brats!_ ”   The stocky femme snapped softly.   “Look, _tactically_ the more we can stop the aerial forces from targeting the ground units—the better the chance the ground units have at fighting back,” she said, sharply.   “This _isn’t_ a game—this is _life and death_ …………and we’re giving the Autobot forces, as well as our friends, down there a better chance of living!”   She added, folding her arms across her chest and standing behind the two piloting the ship with all authority and command in her field.

            “ _Yeah, I know_ ………..” Blurr mumbled, a bit dejectedly.   He was worried about his best friend—he just had a really bad feeling about things.   The moment they saw the small speeder shoot past them, towards Unicron, he had the strong feeling that Rodimus Prime was aboard that small speeder—Blurr knew that _wasn’t_ what Hot Rod had always explained to him about the situation and how it was supposed to go.   _Something_ had changed and…………..now his best friend was going against Unicron **_all alone_**.

            “ _Focus_ , Blurr—Rodimus wouldn’t want you to worry about him and make a mistake here, when there are others you need to worry about,” Override responded, reaching over and gently rubbing her ward’s helm with fondness and comfort.    “He’s got something very big on his plate.   And he needs your faith in him right now.   He said that’s what he needs—all of our Sparks hoping for the victory that we can give him.”

            “I wonder why Fortress Maximus isn’t in the fight?”  Roadfire murmured, as he checked the displays of the combat again.   “He is still in his fortress form………….”    The warrior-monk from Sanctuary knew that if the titan mech were in combat with his primary form—he could easily swat at the aerial units and crush the ground units.

            “He’s probably protecting the wounded with his frame,” Override responded, reaching over and lightly patting Roadfire’s shoulder.   “We know from the reports that the Autobots suffered heavy losses on Root and went back to Cybertron with a lot of injured and no chief medical officer to organize the recovery.   First Aid had the intention of taking over as soon as he got there and he may have realized that Max’s frame was more secure than the buildings on Cybertron and had the wounded relocated to the interior of the city-mech.”

            Firestar and Moonracer were standing with Grotusque at the back of the bridge.   They were all strapped down into seating back there and wondering about everything the three at the piloting station were saying.

            “I was watching the numbers of those dark mechs increase, seemed to be some kind of energy boost to division?”   Moonracer murmured.   She typed some things on a datapad.   “It’s probably good that they stopped using energy weapons, but…………the numbers are huge now.”

            “D’ya thnk they’ll be o’vrwhe’med?”  Firestar whispered, leaning over to her lover and best friend.

            “Ultra Magnus is a fierce fighter,” Grotusque murmured, reach up to rub the back of his neck anxiously.  “Watched him fight on Gaea.   _He can take on an army_.”

            “Numbers don’t lie though,” the teal-and-white femme said, worriedly.   “I’m really worried.   I wish we could do something to assist the ground units more.”

            “We should protect the wounded.   If they’re in the titan-mech’s frame,” the beast-mech from Gaea said, quietly.

            “Override!   We shoul’ stay ‘ver Max!”   Firestar called, looking over at the piloting station and the three gathered there.   “Don’ let tha numb’rs increas’ ‘round tha titan-mech!”

            Override looked back at the younger ones and tilted her head as she thought about it for a few moments.   “I think you’re right—we should concentrate our protection over the wounded,” the stocky red-and-white femme answered.   “Blurr, Roadfire—fly around over the location of Fortress Maximus.   Keep all aerial units away from it and don’t let the ground units overwhelm the fortress………….sweep low if you need to,” she added, patting both piloting mechs on their shoulders.

            Back to where Ultra Magnus and Sky Shadow were fighting…………..

            “I think we’re _finally_ whittling down their numbers a bit!”   Sky Shadow called, bashing a few undead mechs with his shield and spearing a couple more on his large spear.

            Ultra Magnus spun in a full three-sixty and used his sledgehammer to take out a small group of the undead around him.   “I think you may be right!”   The old soldier responded.   His optics noted the _Star Voyager_ taking a guard sweep around Fortress Maximus and wondered why—until it occurred to him that there was a very valid reason that the city-mech was not in his large primary mode, fighting these undead hordes.    _‘The wounded……….First Aid must have gathered the wounded inside of Fortress Maximus’ frame for protection!’_    Ultra Magnus smiled.   _‘Good call, Override…….’_ he thought fondly.

            “ _Don’t get distracted, kid!   We’re still in combat!_ ”   The old warrior near him called.

            “ _Right!_ ”   Ultra Magnus responded.   He turned his focus back to the hordes around him and charged forwards with a battle cry, swinging the sledgehammer in sweeping arcs.

            All of the sudden a massive towering mech lumbered into battle—it looked to be combined of multiple mechs or femmes and had the colors of garish green and purple.   Ultra Magnus grunted and halted, waiting in a battle-ready stance.   Hadn’t he seen mechs or femmes of those colors back on Root?   But they _weren’t_ merged together on that colony world.   They were working on trying to fix Megatron and the other wounded Decepticons…………

            “That’s _Devastator_ —the Constructicons’ combined form,” Sky Shadow snapped.

            “Frankly, I do not care how big it makes them—they will still be taken down, regardless!”  Magnus snapped back.   “Are you with me, Shadow?”   He called, glancing back at his old friend and fellow Voyager Class soldier.

            “ _Yep!   Let’s do it!_ ”   Sky Shadow laughed.   The two powerful warrior mechs launched themselves into the air with their weapons brandished, to strike them against the armoured chest of the gestalt warrior.

            Devastator gave a multi-layered vocal cry and swung an arm out at the two soldiers.   Sky Shadow reached over with his shield and shoved Ultra Magnus out of the way, using his boot thrusters to control his own propelling away from the combined warrior.   Magnus focused and controlled his abruptly changed movement to land hard on his pedes almost behind the garishly-colored gestalt.   As soon as he landed, he kept his momentum and swung hard at the leg of Devastator.

            The large combined mech grunted and reached down to try and swat Ultra Magnus away from his leg, just as Sky Shadow launched himself forward with his spear thrust hard to try and pierce the chest armour.   The ultra-sharp tip of the spear sank in only a couple inches, but left a massive scraping scar across the paneling as the black-colored warrior thrust himself away.   Devastator gave a painful groan and fell to a knee, sweeping one of his arms around in front of him to try and get Sky Shadow to keep away.

            That was when the red-white-blue mech swung his hammer around to try and hit the arm-joint of the one arm that was braced on the ground.   There was a massive cracking sound and the mech attached as the arm fell off—instinctively transforming into his primary mode.   Magnus smiled—this was exactly what Hot Rod did with the gestalt of Abominus on Gaea.   He picked off the limbs to get the gestalt to break into his individual components.   What worked for Hot Rod then, would likely work on another gestalt—and Sky Shadow caught onto that right away.

            The black-armoured warrior moved about with his boot-thrusters and went to target the arm-joint of Devastator’s other arm, while Ultra Magnus focused on the legs.   _This would definitely work!_

 

*      *      *      *      *

 

            While all of his friends and allies focused on their opponents, Rodimus Prime was on a collision course with Unicron, with two enemies in tow.   Galvatron’s howls of fury were getting louder, even here in the depths of space, and his shots were getting closer.   _Nothing_ could be as predictable as Galvatron’s obsession with him—even for as unpredictable a mech as the powerful dark warrior was.   Now all the flame-colored mech had to do was………..

            “ _And there we go!_ ”   Rodimus laughed warmly, watching as Galvatron’s plasma-blast blew a hole right in Unicron’s side.   He barrel-rolled the ship and entered his nice new landing bay inside of the God of Chaos.   _‘All I need to do is find a major fuel junction or………even better………..the brain module area.   Except I’ve got two rabid wolves set to eat me raw.’_

            Rodimus popped the hatch and started climbing out of the pilot’s seat.

            “You are nothing more than a foolish young mech,” a deep, gravelly voice growled.    “And now you shall meet your end!”

            The flame-colored mech found Nemesis Prime standing over him, his battle-axe within inches of his faceplate.

            “ ** _Out of my way!   That Prime is mine!!_** ”  Galvatron roared, slamming Nemesis Prime out of the way and into a far wall.   He stood in the same spot the black-armoured soldier had stood a second ago, with his nova cannon aimed down at Rodimus Prime’s faceplate.    “ _Surrender to me and perhaps I shall be lenient!_ ”   The powerful purple-and-grey mech snarled.

            Nemesis Prime grunted and launched himself at Galvatron, punching him away into the far wall and then launched after him with his battle-axe in motion.

            “How are they going to kill me when they clearly can’t even work together……..?” Rodimus chuckled to himself, pulling himself out of the speeder and hopping down to the ground.   He transformed into his alt mode and sped off down the corridors.

            He heard Galvatron’s familiar howl of fury and a roar of thrusters meaning the powerful mech broke off from his fight with his ally to pursue him.   It was strange, _why_ was Galvatron so attached to him?   Rodimus increased his speed and then heard another roar of a powerful engine, meaning Nemesis Prime had transformed into his alt mode and set off in pursuit of him as well.   Nemesis was more understandable—he was following Unicron’s orders.   _Galvatron_ , though………..Galvatron was following nothing but his whims.

            Then the flame-colored mech suddenly felt a strange tug at him and veered off into another corridor.  At least Primus was helping as much as he could.   It was still not going to be a very good ending for Hot Rod of Corona, but………….everyone he loved and cherished would survive.   _That_ was the most important thing to Rodimus Prime.

            All of the sudden the wall exploded off to his left on the path in front of him!

            “ _I have you now, Prime!!!_ ”  Galvatron thundered, charging up a quick blast from his nova cannon.

            Rodimus Prime swerved and the blast went past him as he slammed straight into the grey-and-purple mech.   He heard a deep, threatening growl from behind him and knew that Nemesis Prime had been hit by Galvatron’s partially-charged blast.

            “ ** _What is your damage?!_** ”   Rodimus groaned, trying to increase his speed even more and followed the tugging of Primus directing him to where he needed to go.   _‘Jeeze………how am I going to have enough time to even open the Matrix if I’ve got these two in my rear mirrors the whole time?’_    He thought to himself as he tried to go as fast as his bulkier alt mode would let him.

            He _had_ to find a way to ditch them, but………..he was inside of Unicron now and the God of Chaos could surely direct his soldiers right at him—even as Primus was directing him to where he needed to go to open the Matrix.   Which meant…….that before using the Matrix, Rodimus Prime was going to have to take out his two pursuers.

            _‘Even I know I can’t fight the both of them at the same time—I need to pick them off,’_ Rodimus thought to himself.

            **_{As if I would allow that, little Prime,}_**   a very dark and deep voice echoed inside his head.

            “You must be Unicron!”  Rodimus gasped, nearly spinning out into a wall when the voice took him by surprise.

            **_{Do you think I haven’t planned for every contingency?}_**   The God of Chaos continued.   **_{I have one very smart attack dog who will hunt the assigned prey and one very wild wolf that will not allow his prey to escape.}_**

            “And _I’m_ the prey, hunh?”  Rodimus Prime grumbled, bringing his wheels back into alignment and kept charging down his path, following the directions Primus was giving to him.

            “ ** _Rrrrraaaarrrrgh!!!   Prrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeee!!!_** ”  A very familiar voice howled with fury.

            “ _That_ would be the wolf,” Rodimus chuckled, softly.   Suddenly Rodimus had a thought—a very stray thought that flitted across his consciousness for but a moment.   “I wonder where the dog went, then?”  He mused, trying to stay alert for Nemesis Prime’s engines or the dark pulse of his emotionless EM field.   He kept driving on, following the subtle tugs of Primus’ directions until he finally found the large chamber where the brain module was.

            It looked very shielded, but _that_ wouldn’t deter the power of the Matrix.    However, _first_ …………Rodimus Prime would have to do something about his pursuers.   And they both arrived right on cue, however—this time Nemesis Prime stood back while Galvatron launched himself at Rodimus with a howl of fury.  

            _That worked out perfectly!_

            Rodimus Prime grabbed Galvatron’s cannon arm and pulled him forward to lock him in a headlock.

            “ _Hey_.   You wanna serve Unicron forever or do you wanna be free?”  The young flame-colored mech whispered, leaning close to the purple-and-grey mech’s audial area.

            “ _PCC fool_.  Everything spoken can be heard,” Galvatron whispered back.

            Rodimus wirelessly sent his PCC to Galvatron, even as he kept up the close combat maneuvers.

            _::Good.   Keep up the combat.   Talk while we fight,::_   Galvatron sent via comm-link.

            _::He can’t hear our comm-links?::_   Rodimus asked, pulling back into a ready stance, as Galvatron tried to pull the flame-colored mech into a throw.

            _::Our frequencies are not to his tastes!::_  The powerful mech’s voice chortled inside Rodimus’ head.   He raised his nova cannon and began to charge it up for a blast.   _::On your left, Prime.::_

            Rodimus grinned and dodged, even as he lunged forwards to try and land a punch.

            “You are _terrible_ at fighting, Prime!”   Galvatron snarled, grabbing the flame-colored mech by the throat, but was very careful not to make it too rough or debilitating.   _::What is your plan, Prime?::_    He sent, even as he verbally roared threats at the flame-colored mech.

            “ _Hey_ , I was trained by the legendary Ultra Magnus!”   Rodimus growled, raising a boot and planting it on Galvatron’s chest.   _::Gonna use the Matrix to disperse Unicron’s form—he won’t be able to reform again for a few millennia!::_    He sent as he kicked hard with his pede and flipped away.

            _::Good enough.   Now all we need is to tie down the attack dog,::_ Galvatron sent, as he launched himself forwards at Rodimus Prime again.   “ ** _I have you now, Prime!   Now you shall die!_** ”   He roared, charging up his nova cannon as he lunged.

            Rodimus stood firm and popped open his chestplate, even as Galvatron’s nova cannon and frame swung off to fire in Nemesis Prime’s direction.   The young, flame-colored Prime whipped the Matrix of Leadership out and held it over his head, just as Galvatron went right for his fellow Unicronian-reborn soldier.

            “ ** _Now light our darkest hour!!!_** ”   Rodimus Prime cried, pulling apart the special casing over the Spark of Primus and allowed the eternal light to shine brightly in the darkness.

            _Everyone’s_ Sparks were united in this moment………the Primes of the past, all of the children of Primus—scattered as they were across all of the colonies………everyone’s Sparks were united through Primus’ Great Spark.

            Rodimus Prime staggered as the power flowed through him and washed over him—it was just so much!   His frame had been reformatted to hold the Great Spark, but it was **_never_** meant to bear the release of all that brilliant life-energy.

            _But…………..he knew **that** already.   _

            He’d seen his death on the web of fate—the future _did not_ have him in it.

            Hot Rod of Corona.   Ward of Ultra Magnus.   Best friend of Blurr.   Lover and beloved to Drift from Fortress.   Rodimus Prime…………..the thirteenth Prime and Protector of Cybertron and its colonies…………was to meet his end here.   His life didn’t matter, as long as the lives of everyone he loved would be saved and that they would live on!

            Rodimus Prime fell to his knees, holding apart the casing, letting the light sear everything around him.   And as he saw Unicron’s form slowly disintegrating around him, there was suddenly an arm around his waist and he was tugged against a bulky, cool frame.

            “ _Fool, you didn’t say we were both going to die!   You said we would be free!_ ”  Galvatron hissed in the flame-colored mech’s audial.

            Galvatron’s frame felt so nice and cool against Rodimus Prime’s own melting frame—he felt so hot that he was probably going to melt away with Unicron’s form.    He hadn’t meant to lie to Galvatron, but he just wanted to save everyone he loved…………..that’s all.

 

*      *      *      *      *

 

            The sight of Unicron’s dispersal in the skies above Cybertron gave the very thin atmosphere of the metal planet a strange, multi-colored hue.   Rippling in the sky like a rainbow ribbon of light, pulsing with every color in existence.

            Cyclonus growled and sent a retreat order to all the regular Decepticon units, even as Unicron’s undead army began to turn to dust.

            It wasn’t worth it for the Autobots and their allies to pursue the retreating Decepticons—instead, they were thankful for the sudden end to the battles………..and they all stared into the sky, watching the strange aurora flare and flicker brightly.

            Star Saber, back in his Voyager Class armour, landed next to Ultra Magnus and Sky Shadow.   He smiled beneath his facial shield and held his forearm up to the black-armoured Voyager Class mech.   Sky Shadow grinned and butted his forearm against his fellow elite soldier’s with great fondness.   But then the mood turned somber, because that light in the skies could only mean one thing………….

            “I’m so sorry, Magnus…………” Star Saber murmured, clapping a servo on his old friend’s shoulder.

            “I _cannot_ believe it,” Ultra Magnus murmured.   “I **_will not_** believe it!”   He snapped, placing a servo over his chest.   He couldn’t really feel anything right now—his systems were still so amped up with battle protocols and rushing fuel.   The old soldier spun on a pede and went to look for Drift—right now, more than anything, he needed to find Drift and find out what he felt……….. ** _if_** he felt anything.

            “I don’t think this young flame-colored mech is dead, Saber,” Sky Shadow said, looking over at his old friend.   “Look, I _know_ what a broken Spark-bond is like…………and I don’t think Magnus is feeling a broken Spark-bond.”

            “Okay, but Shadow—how **_do_** you survive something like _that_?!”   Star Saber grunted, motioning with his servo up into the sky, at the rippling aurora.

            “That is something I _don’t_ have an answer for,” the black-armoured mech sighed, folding his arms across his chest.

            Not-so-far-away…………the _Star Voyager_ landed near Fortress Maximus and the remainder of the crew disembarked to stand around, watching the multi-colored lights rippling in the sky.

            Blurr clenched a servo against his chest, above where his Spark would be.   Rodimus had been out there—his very best friend.   There could be _no way_ that the flame-colored mech survived that, it was against the odds and impossible.   Firestar and Moonracer moved up against his sides and hugged the blue-colored mech lovingly.   He wrapped his arms around both of the femmes and hugged them tightly, his Spark aching more than he could ever express.

            A moment later, he felt a large, warm servo brush his helm.   Blurr looked up into Ultra Magnus’ faceplate, which was full of pain as well.   Override also reached over and rubbed his helm, soothingly.

            “Blurr………I do not think Rodimus is gone,” Magnus murmured.   “I just do not feel it.”

            “ _Really_?”   The young, blue-colored mech asked, hopefulness in the tone of his vocalizer.

            “I don’t feel it, either,” a familiar voice added, as another person walked up to the group.

            Ultra Magnus turned and extended an arm out to pull Drift against him.   “Good.   I wanted to find you, to see how you felt,” he murmured, lightly resting his cheek against the top of the white-and-grey mech’s helm.   “He’s out there—somewhere, our brilliant star.”

            As Ultra Magnus said those words, everyone looked up into the rippling rainbow aurora, which was just starting to fade in brilliance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_ An Author’s Very Long Series Note: _

 

Yeah, AO3 has a section for notes, but I’d like to share with you something of a behind the scenes or pre-/post-production for “ _Transformers: Star Voyager_ ”.   There’s one more episode left to go—and it’s more or less like a post-script.   We’ll find out what happened to Rodimus Prime after Unicron’s dispersement.   :)

 

So, originally, dear readers of this series—“ _Star Voyager_ ” was slated to be 50 episodes long.   It was always imagined as an “ _anime_ ” or “ _cartoon_ ” series and in Japan a lot of anime tend to run in 13, 26 or 50 episode lengths.    The title itself was inspired by some of the Japanese theme music for older “ _Transformers_ ” things, more notably a song called “ _Super Voyager_ ” by Cyber Nation Network from the “ _Beast Wars II_ ” anime series.   But as I posted episodes, I wasn’t getting a lot of readers on this series—especially compared to my other works.   And I am one person who **_doesn’t_** like to leave things unfinished.   So, for the few readers I had, I wanted to make sure I ended it in a timely manner.   

 

Around episode 10 or so, I decided to see what I could cut and condense to get the series down to 26 episodes.   And then, if readership picked up—this would become “ _Season One_ ” and I would do a “ _Season Two_ ” and fill out some of the things I’d wanted to do over the course of 50 episodes instead.    The hit count and kudos count never really picked up much beyond a couple regular readers.   Yeah, some people go and read like episode 8 (the most explicit episode of them all) a lot or the episodes with Hot Rod and Drift stuff, but overall—if there wasn’t the interest in the entire story, then sinking my time into it just wouldn’t be worth it in the end……….no matter how much I really loved developing this series.   Likely, in my own personal notebooks……..written during lunch breaks, maybe I’ll continue developing it out for myself.   But to post, without much interest in it, it’s best to write the ending while I can still do so—because I don’t like leaving things unfinished.  

 

_And as a reader—I know a reader wants to reach the end, too._

 

In the end, the primary thing that got cut was more ship crew interaction and travel to more of the colonies.   I honestly wanted to spend about 3 episodes on each colony and meet more people on each colony, plus at least 1 episode of the ship’s crew interacting as they travelled to the next colony.   You should see my notes for this series!   I’ve got like 10 pages of notes about each of the colonies, who Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime and the others meet there and who joins the crew.   One of the very important things that got cut was **_the relationship between Brainstorm and Airrazor_** —this was to be one of the main pairings of “ _background characters_ ” of the series.   It was going to start with Brainstorm’s interest in Airrazor’s capability to “ _bear life_ ”—and end with them getting together and Spark-bonding (and, yes, having a sparkling).   Overall, I wanted the travel to each of the colonies and eventually ending with Cybertron and the confrontation with Unicron to take place over the course of a year.

 

That changed completely.   It became very rushed as I fought with my notes to reach my ending without sacrificing too much necessary development.   The trip around the colonies that we did get to was within a month.   Cybertron was visited much earlier than the final confrontation, because I wanted to reveal Optimus Prime at least a little bit before his planned death on Root.   The Decepticons were actually going to attack while the _Star Voyager_ crew were on Root and that was entirely re-written, as you can see.

 

I also didn’t get to show much development for Galvatron and Nemesis Prime—Unicron’s two favored “ _children_ ” who absolutely hate each other.   I also wanted to do a few more flashback episodes, as well—Magnus’ life on Cybertron, more about Sentinel Prime and the Voyager Class unit.   I also wanted to develop out this universe’s Starscream a bit more as well—all of that got chopped and condensed into a single flashback episode.

 

_So, sooner than you think, episode 26 will be here—the grand finale.   For those that stuck with me all this time, I hope you’ll stick around for the final episode._    *bows*


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